Clifton council approves short-term firehouse fixes

CLIFTON – Officials introduced a $300,000 project Wednesday night to repair two aging firehouses on the city's east side.

Fire Chief Vincent Colavitti said the funds would be used to fix buckling floors and electrical hazards at Stations 1 and 3, but that the repairs were a stopgap solution to larger inadequacies of Clifton's firehouses.

Colavitti said most of the city's six firehouses have surpassed their 50-year lifespan, don't have enough space and are rife with structural flaws.

"These are temporary fixes until we get an ironclad solution," Colavitti said. "These buildings are not going to be sustainable. Everything we do today is light-years ahead of what these buildings were built for."

Colavitti urged the City Council to revisit a consultant's recommendations to consolidate four companies into two new energy-efficient firehouses and build extensions on a few other buildings. The plan, which could cost as much as $16 million, would eliminate the need to rent storage space for the department's equipment and allow for other savings, the chief said.

City Manager Matthew Watkins said the fire chief was "premature" in discussing a facilities plan. He said he has not yet reviewed the consultant's suggestions, which were submitted before Watkins was appointed in 2011, and that the repairs the City Council moved on are necessary regardless of whether officials agreed with bigger upgrades.

"These repairs need to be made, even if tomorrow we were going to do the facility changes," Watkins said.

Watkins agreed with the chief that a future plan for the buildings needs to be addressed and said he would review the consultant's report after this year's budget season.

On Wednesday, the council introduced a $642,000 bond ordinance to fund the repairs to Stations 1 and 3 and the purchase of a new trash compactor. A final vote is expected later this month.

Colavitti said the floors of the two stations are unstable and that firetrucks are beginning to sink into the building cellars. Water is seeping into the electrical system of Station 3, which turns 90 this year, and there are cracks in a wall of Station 1 that could cause it to collapse, he said.

Mayor James Anzaldi said the city at the moment can't afford more than the fixes to those two buildings. There's been no discussion of the consultant's suggestions because the project's $16 million price tag shocked the council when the report was presented a few years ago, Councilman Joe Kolodziej said.

"I am in favor of becoming more cost-effective, but what is the cost of being more cost-effective?" Kolodziej asked. "Quite a few of us almost fell out of our chairs when we saw that number."

Colavitti said the project had the support of the council's fire committee, and that it would be a sensible long-term investment.

"For something that's going to be here in 50 to 75 years, that doesn't seem that expensive to me," he said. "Think about the savings you're going to make in the long run."